For other useful and curated NYCity event info for Manhattan’s WestSide check out:
♦ “Notable NYC Events-April”, and also “on Broadway”, and “Top10 Free” in the header above.
♦ For NYCity trip planning see links in “Resources” and “Smart Stuff” in the header above.

Readings: Nine Plays from Five Continents
With Jalila Baccar, Frantz Dominique Batraville, Guillermo Calderón
As part of the 2014 PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, the Segal Center will showcase play readings by nine of the world’s most respected dramatists. With each writer hailing from a different world region as classified by the United Nations, the International Play Festival generates conversations on art, politics, dreams, war, and philosophy, meant to give American audiences a rich awareness of the greater global dialogue.
2:00 pm / Tsunami by Jalila Baccar (Tunisia)
5:00 pm / Endless Vigils at Crête-à-Pierrot by Frantz Dominique Batraville (Haiti)
7:30 pm / Villa + Discurso by Guillermo Calderoón (Chile)CUNY Graduate Center: Martin E. Segal Theater 365 Fifth Ave.
Free and open to the public. First come, first served. No reservations.

The Manhattan School Of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra
“The Manhattan School of Music’s resident Latin jazz big band, conducted by percussionist and educator Bobby Sanabria has a new album: “Que Viva Harlem,” which pivots around the ambitious 20-minute title work, but also includes some absolutely ingenious Cubanissimo Ellingtonia (“Oclupaca,” “Moon Over Cuba,” “Blood Count”). On Saturday, Dizzy’s is presenting a dance session with the Eyal Vilner Big Band, and here’s hoping that they keep the dance floor set up on Monday so Señor Sanabria and his young charges can remind people of the main purpose of Latin jazz.” (WSJ)Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Broadway at 60th Street
(212) 258-9595

Unlimited Partnerships: The Perils and Pleasures of Artistic Collaboration
“For her latest album, Jill Sobule asked several writers, including David Hajdu, Sara Marcus, Sam Lipsyte, James Marcus, Luc Sante and Nina Mehta, to provide the songs’ lyrics. In conjunction with Harper’s Magazine, Sobule’s lyricists chat with her about collaborating, before performances of these new songs.” (TONY)Housing Works Bookstore Café, 126 Crosby St. , btw E Houston and Prince Sts
At 7PM / FREE
212-334-3324 / housingworksbookstore.org

The New York Pops 31st Birthday Gala, ‘Make It Big’
For years, Broadway snobs have regarded the team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman as something more akin to musical pranksters rather than true songwriters, but, in retrospect, their scores to “Hairspray,” “Fame Becomes Me,” “Catch Me If You Can” and their various “South Park” projects (including “Team America”) amount to some of the most entertaining show music of the last 20 years. It’s high time they were given the proper treatment, with the full Pops contingent and an all-star cast of contemporary theater stars and other A-list celebrities: Nikki Blonsky, Martin Short, Megan Hilty, Jane Krakowski, Ricki Lake, Patti LuPone, Andrea Martin, and Katharine McPhee, among others. Admit it: you’re probably humming “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” even as we speak.” (WSJ)Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium, 57th St. & Seventh Ave.
(212) 247-7800

Olga Bell
With “Krai,” this classical pianist and member of the Dirty Projectors has written an extended sonnet to her native Russia. The album, being released by New Amsterdam on Tuesday, is a roiling blend of experimental art-rock with processed classical choirs, electronic production and earthy lyrics delivered in her native language. “ (Anderson-NYT)Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, near Thompson Street, Greenwich Village,
12-505-3474, lepoissonrouge.com
At 8 p.m. / $20 day of show.

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♦ Before making final plans, we suggest you call the venue to confirm ticket availability, dates and times, as schedules are subject to change.

♦ NYCity is a big town with many visitors where quality shows draw crowds. Try to reserve seats in advance, even if just on day of performance.

‘Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital’(through June 1)
“If you haven’t quite wrapped your head around the concept of 3-D printing, or haven’t yet had a digital scanner wrap itself around you, now you can do both in this survey of computer-assisted art, architecture and design. The show looks at art made since 2005 and fills nearly three floors, including many irresistible interactive projects. Its ideas may not be entirely new; the Museum of Modern Art’s 2008 exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind” covered much of the same territory, but there’s something to be said for this more down-to-earth, production-focused exhibition.” (Rosenberg-NYT)Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle,
212-299-7777,madmuseum.org.

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‘Capa in Color’ (through May 4)
“Robert Capa first worked with color in 1938, though he only began shooting regularly in color in 1941. This exhibition includes more than 100 contemporary inkjet prints, a fraction of the roughly 4,200 color transparencies held in the center’s Capa Archive. Sections of the exhibition include photographs of postwar Paris with spectators at the Longchamp racetrack, fashion models, people sitting in cafes. Black and white remained the standard for war photography as well as art during this time, however, and color during Capa’s period was still for commerce, amateurs, leisure — and stories featuring women.”(Martha Schwendener-NYT)

‘What Is a Photograph?’ (through May 4)
“This exhibition is supposed to address a good question: What is photography in today’s digital age with its mind-boggling new smorgasbord of ways to create and disseminate machine-made images? It brings together works from the past four decades by 21 artists who have used photography to ponder the nature of photography itself. But it’s a strangely blinkered and backward-looking show. Most of what is on view has more to do with photography’s analog past than with its cybernetic future.” (Ken Johnson-NYT)International Center of Photography, 1133 Avenue of the Americas, at 43rd St.
212-857-0000, icp.org=========================================================

The Art of the Brick by Nathan Sawaya (ongoing)
This exhibition by artist Nathan Sawaya is a critically acclaimed collection of intriguing and inspiring works of art made exclusively from one of the most recognizable toys in the world — LEGO® bricks. The Discovery Times Square exhibit is the world’s biggest and most elaborate display of LEGO® art ever and features brand-new, never-before-seen pieces by Sawaya. This show was named ‘One of CNN’s Ten Global Must-See Exhibitions.’Discovery Times Square, 226 West 44th St. (btw 7th/8th ave)
866.987.9692 / http://www.discoverytsx.com

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For other selected Museum and Gallery Special Exhibitions see Recent Posts in the right Sidebar: “Selected Events + Special Exhibitions : … …” dated (04/26) and (04/24).